Landlord said in an email that we could break the lease w/out penalty.now he won't pay our deposit back...?

The lease is legally enforceable until the end of July. You don't need to put in a legally binding contract that you need to abide by the contract. That is the purpose of the contract.

You will need to pay rent unti the end of july as that is the term you are contractually obligated to pay.

Your lease expires at the end of July and you are bound to stay there until then. You must give a minimum of 30 days notice if you do not want to renew the lease after July. It's not a 30 day notice to break the lease.

Normally, if you break a lease, you owe 3 months rent. If that 3 months takes you beyond the end of your lease, you only owe for that portion. That is, if you only have two months remaining, then you only owe 2 months, not three.

And in that case, they cannot keep your security deposit (if you pay the 2 months) because you are giving them 2 months advance notice (which is more than the 30 days required). If you have more than 3 months remaining, they can keep your security deposit if there is any time remianing on the lease.

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